Does narrating the life story predict changes in personality traits and characteristics?

To measure narratives, individuals often participate in a life story interview, which bears similarity to a narrative therapeutic approach. Given that clinical interventions were shown to impact change in personality traits and characteristics, the present study explored whether narrating one’s life story is also linked to such changes. The pre-registered study compared 123 life-story-interview participants (Mage = 35.44 years) with 123 control-sample participants (Mage = 35.50 years). We assessed participants’ personality traits, optimism, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and affect before and 1 and 3 years after the interview. The findings suggest that the life story interview does not lead to consistent changes in personality traits and characteristics, indicating that this interview setting developed for measurement is different from an intervention.